Tradition rules
Rajesh Govindarajulu remembers the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations of his childhood. “We would take a wooden palagai to the potter who would make a Ganesha with clay. It would be a wet idol, with no colour. We brought it home carefully, on the palagai. A silver coin was placed as the navel of Ganesha, a silver vibhuti patti would be tied around his head, and, sometimes, a gold chain would adorn his neck. He also got a poonal.
“After the puja, my grandmother insisted all the frills and embellishments be taken off and only the clay Ganesha be immersed in a clean water body.” While the wet Ganesha is hard to come by today, Rajesh says he has tried to continue the tradition by placing a little bit of wet mud and turmeric inside a hollow silver Ganesha. After the puja, he washes off the mud inside over a plant at home.
“Ganesh Chaturthi used to be about the puja with His favourite flowers and leaves, the thoppu karanams and the sundal and kozhukattais. And the wonderful stories behind the festival that the Vaadyaar or some elder in the house would tell us. It was not about messing with Nature. The colours and chemicals used in making the Ganesha idols is a relatively recent phenomenon. People back then were a lot more environmentally conscious and while they observed every ritual and puja in the book, they made sure it did not defile Nature.”
Back to Nature
Growing up in Kochi, Prasad used to collect clay from the garden, and beat it repeatedly to make it malleable, add some paruppu podi, haldi and kumkum, and shape his Ganesha idol. Soon, colourful Ganeshas, which polluted the soil and water systems, became the rage. “But, I always felt that Ganeshas must dissolve and go back to Nature.” Along with Geetha, Prasad has been holding Ganesha-making classes since last year under the aegis of Ankur. And so, Coimbatoreans get a chance to make their own eco-friendly Ganeshas, embellished with nothing but clay and creativity. Geetha says that as a child, she never understood the significance of the idol. “Now, I know what a wonderful concept it is. We take resources from mother Earth, shape it with our hands, worship it and give it back to Earth with grace and respect.” Homemakers, working women, men and children made about 30 Ganeshas, including some free-form ones, at Ankur. All they used were three packs of clay, some moulds, a couple of tooth picks, a clay cutter and some wooden ice-cream sticks to support the back of the idols. Such a movement is needed at a time when our water bodies are being polluted by PoP and painted idols, Geetha says. “When you make eco-friendly Ganeshas, you eliminate one of the main causes of water pollution,” says Prasad.
My Ganesha
As I discovered, making my own Ganesha was therapeutic. My son and I worked for two uninterrupted hours, on the fine clay before assembling the moulded pieces. We then decorated our Ganesha with small clay beads and a crown. The best part? Till we completed it, we had no idea how our Ganesha would look. Some idols had a calm look while others looked naughty. Ours looked very tribal, and a little angry about something. But then, Prasad, smoothened out some lines. And, our Ganesha smiled again.
